Mackenzie aide was in 2018 chat that shared racist, antisemitic memes

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), who is seeking reelection in the Pennsylvania’s 7th District, employs a communications director who belonged to a college group chat where members circulated racist and antisemitic memes, including images invoking Hitler and the Holocaust.

It remains unclear whether Mackenzie knew about the controversy before hiring Arnaud Armstrong in 2024 or whether he has discussed it with his aide since it resurfaced, first in a post by Reddit user AcademicBand8377 on the r/lehighvalley subreddit.

Armstrong was a senior at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 when he served as editor-in-chief of Polis Media, a conservative student publication, and participated in a GroupMe chat with more than 80 members, according to reporting by The Nation from that year.

In a statement released in 2018, Armstrong said the chat existed to “privately and facetiously share very inappropriate memes out of curiosity for seeing what the worst of the internet could produce.” He said the images did not reflect the participants’ beliefs or the principles of Polis Media, while condemning both the images and what he described as efforts to damage the students’ reputations.

The chat, called “The Meme Stash to End All Meme Stashes,” included images mocking Black children, Asian people and Jewish victims of the Holocaust. One meme superimposed Hitler’s face over an image of a concentration camp alongside a fabricated quote about eliminating Jews. Another joked about Black children not knowing their fathers. There was also a meme shared that alluded to statutory rape as a positive thing.

Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council and a Philadelphia resident, called the images “dehumanizing hate speech” and said Mackenzie’s decision to employ someone associated with the group chat showed “incredibly poor judgment.” She said continuing to employ such staff sends a message to Jewish, Black and other constituents of color that their “safety and well-being” do not matter.

Armstrong’s name appeared in screenshots of the chat, including when another participant tagged him in a message. However, resurfaced screenshots reviewed by Heartland Signal confirm Armstrong’s presence in the chat but did not show him posting any of the memes. The complete chat history has not been made public.

Although the group chat largely consisted of writers and contributors to Pitt’s conservative student publication, the available reporting does not indicate that the memes were shared as part of any reporting or published work by the outlet.

One meme shared in the chat attributed a fabricated quote to Hitler: “You can’t hate Jews when there is no Jews.” The image placed Hitler’s face over a black-and-white photograph of a concentration camp. Similar memes were shared repeatedly, including one referencing Anne Frank.

Another meme shared showed Black children reacting excitedly to cotton candy, with the caption, “You mean I don’t have to pick it and I can eat it?!” The post relied on a racist stereotype linking Black people to cotton picking.

One image depicted in the chat shows a baby with a puppy in her mouth, accompanied by the caption, “NO LITTLE ASIAN DON’T EAT THEM RAW.”

In his 2018 statement, Armstrong condemned the images as “racially insensitive,” while accusing those who publicized them of engaging in what he called an “abusive and targeted assassination of character.”

The episode fits a pattern researchers have documented between ironic racist content and far-right ideology. The Guardian has reported on how far-right groups use irony and offensive humor to make racist, misogynistic and Islamophobic ideas more palatable. Researcher Alice Marwick has similarly told The Nation how irony allows people to circulate extremist ideas while maintaining plausible deniability.

Robin Schatz, director of government affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, said racist and antisemitic stereotypes cause harm even when framed as jokes. She said public officials must take such rhetoric seriously and hold their staff to clear standards, while allowing room for accountability and growth.

In Congress, Mackenzie has voted for resolutions condemning antisemitism and recognizing the contributions of Jewish Americans. In May 2026, he supported a resolution calling on elected officials and civic leaders to counter antisemitism and educate the public about Jewish Americans’ contributions. The measure passed the House 419-0, with support from both parties.

The resurfaced chat reflect a broader problem with racism and antisemitism in Republican politics, said Jacob Spiegel, communications director for the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“There’s nothing funny about the Holocaust or the presence of this rhetoric in the GOP,” he said, adding that Mackenzie and his staff did not need to share the memes themselves to be “emblematic of the problem.”

There is no public evidence establishing when Mackenzie learned of Armstrong’s participation. Neither has a public explanation emerged from Mackenzie for retaining him following the latest reporting.

Neither Mackenzie nor his communications director responded to Heartland Signal’s request for comment.

Arnaud Armstrong campaigning for Mackenzie in 2024 via Ryan Mackenzie Facebook page

Arnaud Armstrong campaigning for Mackenzie in 2024 via Ryan Mackenzie Facebook page